Off-Topic Forum

I'm not sure what to think about this.  On the surface, yeah they cheated and should get suspended, fired, whatever MLB finds acceptable.  On the other hand, its all over now, so I don't care much.  Maybe its because I was rooting for the Astros to win the Series in 2017 because they hadn't done it before, but for whatever reason, I don't care. The last few years I haven't been a super fan of sports like I used to be (except rare occasions like the Royals 2014 and 2015 seasons and the Chiefs the last couple years), but even then if my teams lost, I moved on quickly.

I've said this for the last 15 or so years, sports has become so business like that its not so much about the athletics as much as the entertainment.  The strike started it for baseball, which lead to MLB turning their head to PED's so guys could hit home runs which lead to the fans coming back.  Once the fans were back, MLB "fought the war on steroids". Since then its become entertainment and money.  When I watch a game, I ask myself when its over "was I entertained?"  Usually I am unless there's a bad call or something, and move on.  It's gotten less fun watching now and instead of Vin Scully telling stories about "one time in Ohio, Orel Hershiser found a coke bottle on the ground and he kicked it for three miles until he got to the stadium" (interesting or humanlike stories), all the announcers talk about now is WAR's or launch angles.  I CAN SEE THE GUY HIT THE BALL, I DON'T NEED MORE ANALYSIS ON IT!

Sorry for ranting, I just started and couldn't stop.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, in 2017 I was entertained by the Astros winning the series, and even if they were forced to vacate the title, they can't take it from the memories of those who watched it and enjoyed it.  If anything, its the MLB's (and sports in general) fault for turning athletics into businesses where athletes and teams feel they need to do whatever it takes to stay competitive.

With the recent developments, it won't be long before the Dodgers organization demand the Commissioner's Trophy. I'm actually surprised they haven't started started exploring this already.

The Dodgers' are not getting the Commissioner's Trophy for either year.  What baseball should do is give the Astros' (and Red Sox) forfeited draft picks to them.  I like Cody Bellinger's comment from earlier today saying the Dodgers did it right.  The Dodgers may have lost both World Series, but at least they didn't cheat.

Sarcastic comment coming..... didn't cheat that we know of. They may well have, just didn't get caught.

I have a different view about this even though the Astros needed all 4 home games to knock out the team I root for. I grew up on stories of teams having a guy just past teh fence in centerfield sending signs back to the batter. To me this is something that MLB needed to address, but not destroy a team, manager, and gm's careers. I believe it should have been a large fine for the gm and team. Then a small fine and suspension of maybe 16 or 32 games for Hinch. Along with some lost draft picks.

I'm not going to stop liking my Astros because of this situation. Disappointing yes. Disgusting? That's extreme saying that considering other teams from ALL sports try to find ways to cheat. I agree with the suspension, they knew better. Now to move on to next season. 

I wish I hadn't used the word "disgusting." I just get upset with cheating. I don't like this win at all costs philosophy that is seeping into all levels of sports nowadays. 

Interesting to read that Logan Morrison- MLB 1st baseman, claimed in a since deleted Instagram message, that he knew from first hand accounts of the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox and Astros all using film to steal signs. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I find it hard to believe that most teams weren't doing something similar. I also find it very hard to believe the MLB Office wasn't already aware of the situation. I can't help but imagine that if The Atlantic hadn't published the "breaking story" it would have been swept under the rug. 

But then again, I'm a cynical person.

Even though this is an MLB thread, I'm surprised no one brought up the recent allegations against the NE Patriots over a very similar issue. Even though the complaint came from the worst team in the league this year and the Patriots claim they had no access to the footage, it's still a claim of cheating. "Cheating" or skirting the rules has been commonplace in all sports for many, many years now. It's just getting easier to catch now b/c of technology.

NASCAR changed a rule for the 2019 season that if the winning car failed inspection after the race, it would be moved to the last finishing spot and only get the point for that spot. Not only would they lose the win and the bonus points for it, they also lose all points for Stage finishes and any Playoff points earned. Plus there would be fines for the team and crew chief as well as points fines for the car and driver. Not a single driver in the Cup Series failed post-race inspection in the 2019 season! It had happened a few times for 3 years before that rule. But cars/trucks in both of the lower 2 Series did suffer that fate and have wins stripped during the 2019 season. That was still teams trying to cheat the system, but they did it on the low levels instead of the top-tier to see how NASCAR would deal with it. To clarify this a little bit for the non-NASCAR fans: Cars go through pre-race inspections. But there are things that can be done during the race to alter the car's handling, downforce, drag, etc. A simple hip-check into a quarter-panel by a tire changer can change the airflow around a car and let it drive better in traffic. Just jacking up the car at the wrong spot will bend the bottom of the car to allow more airflow to come out from under the car and give them another advantage. See how easy it could be to "cheat" there?! Now NASCAR has multiple cameras on each pit stall to catch stuff like this. And inspections are now done by a laser grid instead of a chunk of metal held by people to measure dimensions.

If NASCAR can go that technical, I don't see why other sports can't do more to catch any potential "rule-skirting" or blatant cheating.

so should the Astros team name be changed ('unofficially') to..the Asterisks?   

any other clever names you folks can come up with?

good move by Red Sox to remove Alex Cora as well.....what about the Mets, should they do same about Carlos Beltran?

also...what are the thoughts of folks who are not astros fan, but have a pc of Altuve or Bregman just because they like (d) their play?

just curious..

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